Re: Storage Manager 6.0 RC upgrade questions

Hi alexander937,

alexander937 wrote:

 

1. We were told, "The new SRM Orion module is built upon the brand new version of Orion Core. For anyone who is familiar with the Orion platform, I’m sure you’re as excited as I am about all the new awesomeness in this release (Completely rewritten web-based alerting anyone?!?). However, one caveat is that except for NPM, which the team retrofitted to work with previous versions of NPM, all other modules will need to be updated to work with the new version of Core. We will be shipping new versions of NPM, SAM, VMAN (w/ integration module), and others to allow you to upgrade to all the new stuff, but those RC’s will trickle out over the next few weeks. Be on the lookout for NPM 11.5, SAM 6.2 and VMAN 6.2 RC’s to install/upgrade along with the new SRM release. "
1. So how are we to upgrade on or even near Jan 12th if these other components need to be upgraded first?  Do we have to wait until those are all released?
1. For example, we have NPM, SAM, IPAM, NTA, NCM, WPM.  Do we have to wait for NPM 11.5 and SAM 6.2 before we can upgrade to SRM 6.0?
1. Answer - So for your specific environment, SAM and WPM are going to be the long poles. We will need to wait until those products go RC to upgrade your environment/install the SRM Orion module. NPM 11.5 is already RC, but they are doing a slow rollout to mitigate risk. IPAM, NTA and NCM will be patched automatically by upgrading to any of the new modules that are built on Core, so no worries on those modules, as long as they are not too far out of date. The Compatibility Matrix will be updated at GA to reflect all dependencies, but in the meantime it would help if you posted the versions of those products that you have so we can guide you on the best upgrade path.
   

 

1. We currently use the server/virtual machine management within our current Storage Manager 5.x, with this new version, I'm assuming that has been taken away, since it's available in the separate module VMAN.  Will there be some method to acquire VMAN licenses from our SRM 5.x install to cover Virtual management after this upgrade, a discount of some sort to purchase VMAN or nothing at all?
1. To me, this is not a trivial cost and does cause me concern to procure new licenses when it wasn't in plan for this year.
1. Answer - The virtualization management portion of STM is not being "taken away". Storage Manager customers will still have virtualization monitoring they have today when they upgrade to 6.0. The only time a feature "goes away" is when we announce a feature or version EOL, and for a feature as large as that, we definitely would give notice in advance.  If you are looking for virt-storage E2E mapping on the Orion module, your best best right now is to look at our VMAN module to tie those pieces together. STM customers that want to pursue this route should contact me, so that we can figure out the best option for you. We want to make sure this transition is as painless as possible, unfortunately there is no way to do that in a "one-size-fits-all" manner (at least not one I'm smart enough to figure out) so let's work together get it done.

1. IF you don't own VMAN, how does SRM 6.0 work with virtual Hosts and/or clients?  Today, Orion has a very light method of monitoring virtuals, will it link to those already within Orion?
1. Answer - If you don't own VMAN, you can manually map server volumes to backend physical storage. Automatic E2E mapping will require VMAN as it has knowledge of the virtual storage, how that's being utilized by the virtual environment as well as relationships to physical storage.

1. Does SRM 6.0 have ties to relate to MDS (fiber) switches you might already have in Orion's NPM, so you can see a full view from the top of the stack down?  (we did not set this up in the beta, it could already been possible in Beta 4+)
1. We'd have to discuss your specific use case to answer completely. In general, our focus for this version was on "server mapping" (both physcial and virtual) over "network mapping". More in-depth ties to the network environment is on the radar for future releases. that said, the Orion platform is very flexible, so we may be able to address some of your concerns through custom dashbaords.
   
2. Is there any documentation of all the features we can look at before the RC is released, so we can look through the install and requirements, how each piece is integrated, etc?
1. Answer - I'm going to try and attach the draft Admin Guide to this post.

 

Thank you so much for the feedback and for all the hard work getting this release completed!